Oregon high school graduation rate at 66%: 'We have got to do better'

View full sizeRandy L. Rasmussen / The OregonianIn a bleak statewide report on high school graduation, David Douglas High was a bright spot. It managed to get 68 percent of students to earn diplomas -- even if, like Cody Nena, 19, they had to stick with a fifth year of high school to finish. Nena didn't focus much on school during his freshman and sophomore years, but has matured and is determined to finish and graduate next month. "I'll be really grateful, just happy that it's over ... I hope to go to college, probably for mechanics."

That represents almost imperceptible improvement from the previous year, both statewide and in Portland Public Schools, Oregon's largest district. The district's on-time graduation rate was 53.6 percent, up from 53.3.

Nearly 11,600 students dropped out statewide, including almost 1,400 -- or one of every 3 students -- in Portland Public Schools.

"We have got to do better. We need to do more to support our struggling learners. That is the only way we will see real change in our graduation rates," she said. "We simply can't afford for one-third of our seniors to be unprepared for their next steps."

Districts that showed notable success include Hillsboro, Tigard-Tualatin, David Douglas and Sherwood. All graduated significantly more students than districts with similar levels of student poverty. And all report that they screen students regularly to spot poor attendance or grades early and get motivation, attendance and academics back on track.

Oregon graduation rates

Hillsboro stresses family counseling, gang prevention and student mental health; Tigard-Tualatin focuses on bringing weak readers up to grade level. But weekly gatherings of teams of adults to monitor warning signs are eerily similar in schools with high graduation rates.

At Sherwood High, counselors, teachers and administrators plot how to help students who've missed class or assignments. Teachers ask questions, call parents and show they care, said Principal Michelle DeBoard. "We tell them, 'You are choosing not to do your work and choosing not to go to school, so we are going to help you.'"

The highest dropout rates occurred in alternative high schools designed to help students who struggled in regular schools. Such schools have proliferated, with more than 70 operating from Portland and Beaverton to rural Eagle Point and Hermiston. Many rely heavily on online lessons.

The vast majority produce more dropouts than graduates, with some of the largest ones awarding diplomas to less than 20 percent of students.

Among regular neighborhood high schools, Portland's Roosevelt High, which serves an overwhelmingly low-income population, had the state's worst graduation rate. In Roosevelt's class of 2010, just 36 percent of students earned diplomas in four years and 45 percent dropped out, figures show.

Other poor performers among regular high schools: Lebanon High (41 percent on-time graduation rate), Santiam High in Mill City (42 percent), Portland's Marshall High (46 percent), Redmond High (46 percent), and Portland's Jefferson High (50 percent) and Madison High (51 percent).

Smith said she was "not happy" with chronically low graduation rates in Portland and will dig into the statistics to find ways to improve.

Even schools that serve relatively affluent areas failed to graduate some students. Wilsonville High and Portland's Wilson and Cleveland all saw at least 20 percent of students drop out.

One bright spot in this year's report came from looking at students who failed to graduate in four years but were persuaded to return for a fifth year. The state had never tracked them before. It turns out that 71 percent managed to earn diplomas in the extra year, and an additional 5 percent got a special education diploma.

David Douglas High showed stunning success with students who needed an extra semester or year. After awarding 488 on-time diplomas to its class of 2009, it helped an additional 57 in that class earn a diploma the next school year. Many were students who learned English as a second language; others lost credits due to frequent moves.

David Douglas counselors meet with every student several times a year and push the ones who need extra time to stick with it, said Assistant Principal John Murray.

"The sacred word is not 'four years,'" he said. "The sacred word is 'high school diploma'; the sacred word is 'finish.'"